"Wild Dances" is a single by

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

singer-songwriter

Ruslana Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding ...

. The song, representing , won the

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European Broa ...

held in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

with a score of 280 points. A

Ukrainian-language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...

version called "Dyki tantsi" () was released in Russia and Ukraine. In 2022, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' named it 55th best Eurovision-winning song of all time.

Background and composition

After qualifying second for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, it scored a total of 280 points in the final, making it the first victory for Ukraine. With a mixture of English and Ukrainian lyrics, "Wild Dances" had the distinction of becoming the first Eurovision-winning song to be sung at least partly in a language other than English since the rule-change of 1999, when countries were allowed to sing in a language of their choosing, rather than one of their official languages. With this win, Ukraine became the third post-Soviet country to win the contest, after and . The song was remembered for an energetic performance, which Ruslana gave in a leather outfit, inspired by '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' and the ethnic tradition of Ukraine. The work on the song lasted for about three months. Editing and sound engineering was done by Ruslana together with specialists from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The recording was done together with a guitarist from Cool Before, and an ex-trumpet player from

Zdob și Zdub Zdob și Zdub (; , onomatopoeia, onomatopoeic for the sound of a drum beat) is a Moldovan folk punk band, based in Chișinău. The band Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv ...

. Ukrainian and English lyrics of the song, as well as the chorus and melody, underwent significant changes since the initial stage. The song was bought with exclusive

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

by Vietnamese singer-songwriter

Hồ Quỳnh Hương Hồ Quỳnh Hương (born 16 October 1980, in Hạ Long, Quảng Ninh) is a Vietnamese female singer. She has appeared in Asia Song Festival 2008, Bước nhảy hoàn vũ (season 1), '' Vietnam Idol (season 3)'' as a guest judge, Cặp đô ...

. She has an own

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

version of the song, entitled "Vũ điệu hoang dã".

Usage in media

The song is used in the soundtrack of the 2008 video game ''

Grand Theft Auto IV ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sixth main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2004's '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', and the ...

''. American gymnast and 2011 world champion

Jordyn Wieber Jordyn Marie Wieber (born July 12, 1995) is an American former artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach. Since April 2019, she has been the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. Wieber was a member of the gold medal-winning ...

has revealed that she uses this song as her floor exercise music. The single was included on the official compilation album called ''The Very Best of Eurovision'' celebrating the 60th anniversary of the contest.

Track listing

Official versions # "Wild Dances" krainian version radio edit– 2:55 # "Wild Dances" lbum version– 3:00 # "Wild Dances" krainian version Harem's pop mix– 2:48 # "Wild Dances" arem's pop mix– 2:48 # "Wild Dances" art II– 3:58 # "Wild Dances" krainian version Harem's club mix– 3:16 # "Wild Dances" arem's club mix– 3:16 # "Wild Dances" krainian version Harem's percussion mix– 2:52 # "Wild Dances" arem's percussion mix– 2:52 # "Wild Dances" reak mix– 3:25 # "Wild Dances" roove mix– 3:16 # "Wild Dances" nstrumental version– 3:00 # "Wild Dances" art II instrumental version– 3:57

Music video

The official music video for the song was first aired on 6 May 2004 (before Eurovision) on

MTV Russia MTV Russia or MTV Россия (russian: МТВ Россия) was a Russian music and entertainment TV channel, which carried out its broadcasting from September 25, 1998 to May 31, 2013. On October 1, 2013, MTV Russia was relaunched as a satel ...

in the ''

12 Angry Viewers ''12 Angry Viewers'' is a daily half-hour television show in the United States on MTV. In it, a public jury judged music videos. It ran from 1997 to 1998. The title is a play of title of the movies ''12 Angry Men'' and the 1997 TV remake, which ai ...

'' show, but was

booed Booing is an act of publicly showing displeasure for someone or something, such as an entertainer or an athlete, by loudly yelling "Boo!" and sustaining the "oo" sound by holding it out. People may also make hand signs such as the thumbs down sig ...

by the audience. The shooting took place in the abandoned building of the Ice Palace, which was at once renamed 'The Iceberg Palace" by the members of Ruslana's crew because no heating equipment brought with Ruslana could heat the cold air of the huge building to a comfortable level. The building was 'decorated' with sheer concrete and windows without glass. Despite the script of the video-clip, which provided for constant burning fire in large barrels, torches on the stage, wireworks and even a real military flame thrower, only the "Wild Dances" could help people to ultimately warm up.

Cover art

Photographer - Valerii Reshetniak

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

External links

Amazon.com about the single
* ttp://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Ruslana&titel=Wild+Dances&cat=s Peak positions of Wild Dances {{List of Eurovision Song Contest winners Ruslana songs 2004 singles Number-one singles in Greece Eurovision Song Contest winning songs Eurovision songs of Ukraine Eurovision songs of 2004 English-language Ukrainian songs Songs written by Oleksandr Ksenofontov 2004 songs EMI Records singles